8th Ed. New 2500 pt list utilizing Saurii hordes

[Battlehamster]

All,

So I just entered my first tournament the other day (7 person small affair at my local game shop) and it was an interesting experience. I was the only player to not utilize hordes in my army. My first game I went up against another lizardmen player who had 3 hordes (2 Saurii and 1 temple guard). I got absolutely massacred as I didn't kill a single unit. I have come up with a variation of his list to see if it works better for me.

2500 pts (on the nose)

Slann (General, BSB) w/ Rumination, Becalming, Mystery (lore of light), Standard of Disc and cupped hands

Skink Priest lvl 2 with cube of darkness

20 Temple Guard (not a horde, running 6x4) with ironcurse icon on champ

40 Saurus Warriors, FC, HW

40 Saurus Warriors, FC, HW

3 salamanders

3 salamanders

3 Terradons

5 Chameleon skinks

It is very beefy on the hitting with my slann trying to buff my saurus with speed of light or bironas for some big carnage. My two units of sallies hit the flanks and flame inward to destroy other hordes. Terradon and cham skinks try to take out war machines and solo characters. Priest there to dispel and end a potentially devastating enemy magic phase. Any thoughts on this list?

 

[Lord Tsunami]

i like the alternative plural to "sauruses". i have tried using it for a long time

i cant really see the point of a "horde" consisting of 20 models. it feels very lackluster, and unless you are fighting enemy hordes, you wont get more attacks than you would with the classic 6x4 formation.

Performance wise, i am sure this list will do pretty well but to be honest you dont really have any tactical options. the sauri hordes will outfight most enemy units in a straight up 1 on 1 fight, but since they are so unwieldy, that is pretty much all they can do. No chance for fancy manoeuvring and tactical decision. just full speed ahead and hit whatever is in front of them.

the salamnders are absolutely awesome at destroying enemy regiments from afar, but again, that is pretty much all they can do. Also, they fill the same purpose as they sauri hordes: kill big enemy units. it is a bit like the boring empire/dwarf gunlines that wins purely by rolling dice. It might be efficient, but its rarely fun for either player.

Terradons and chameleons are great at killing enemy warmachines (and lone wizards if those still exist) but that is also all they can do.


the one thing that could potentially kill you is an enemy that is fast and quickly takes out your sallies. then he could continue to shoot at you from afar while possibly stalling or even surrounding your sauri with lesser troops. Sauri are incredible, but they are not stubborn, and if they are held up by a good anvil and then hit by some heavy cavalry or chariots, they can loose and run, since they do not have steadfast. This is how i would try to beat you if i were playing with my DE. Investing in a few units of skinks would prevent that. Also, watch out for "unkillable" roadblocks. Many many armies can make lords with 1+ rerollable AS and 4+ ward and stubborn (and many can make an even nastier combo). such a character costs under 300 points and will keep a 500 point block of sauri bussy for the whole game if need be, or worse: until his friends all arrive to help him out. With enough cheap anvils a cunning general will stall all of your units while focusing all of his attention on killing off one of them for easy VPs.


My biggest fear is that you wont have a great time playing with this army, since it is all brawn and no brain, but to each his own i guess

 

[Battlehamster]

Well my Temple Guard are not in horde formation, they are run 6x4. Yes I do agree with you that the tactical options are limited. Everything moves forward and I hope that my big Saurii with Speed of Light and Birona's timewarp will come out on top. The tournament I just went to the other day was all hordes so I'm not terribly worried about being outmaneuvered (some armies only really had 3-4 blocks of troops) but I am concerned about not having any skink skirmishers for screens or any characters to help my saurii blocks.

I was thinking of instead of hordes, taking 2 units of 25 SW instead to give better maneuverability and some extra points to take some skirmishers and characters. I tried this variation last night against an ogre player and did alright (but salamanders just aren't as effective against ogres). I lost but managed to kill half his army before my poor slann bunker got gang banged by a unit of iron guts to the front and maneaters on the flank (didn't manage to get my speed of light or bironas off turn 4 which cost me the game on turn 5).